Will Gavin McKenna live up to the pressure at the 2026 World Juniors?

Gavin McKenna has been entrenched as the presumptive No. 1 overall pick in the 2026 NHL Draft for quite some time now, and he’s faced every bit of the pressure that comes along with such status.

While nobody has put McKenna quite on their level, in recent years only Connor Bedard in 2023 and Connor McDavid in 2015 have had expectations that have lined up with or exceeded what is facing McKenna, who made the leap from the WHL to NCAA hockey with Penn State University this year.

Facing increased competition, McKenna has 18 points in 16 games, cooling off a bit after an explosive debut with the Nittany Lions.

Later this month, he’ll be one of the faces of Team Canada at the IIHF U20 World Junior Championships. McDavid and Bedard helped lead Canada to gold in their respective draft years, and there is pressure on McKenna to do the same to cement himself within that echelon of elite draft prospects.

On Wednesday’s episode of Daily Faceoff LIVE, host Tyler Yaremchuk and co-host and former NHL goaltender Carter Hutton were joined by the host of The Sheet, Jeff Marek, to discuss yet another pressure-packed checkpoint facing Gavin McKenna in his draft year.

Carter Hutton: And when you think about the amount of NHL players that are available this year, this could be a big draw for teams for exposure. Is there any certain players, obviously Gavin McKenna’s one that we have to keep an eye on this year, anyone else?

Jeff Marek: All eyes are going to be on Gavin McKenna. I come shy of saying that it’s been disappointing for Gavin McKenna at Penn State… everything is all about managing your expectations, and if you thought Gavin McKenna was going to march into Penn State and start shattering Division I records, you’ll be disappointed, but Gavin McKenna’s been good with Penn State. Has he been outstanding, is he setting college hockey on fire? Well, no, he isn’t. A lot of people are wondering whether this World Junior tournament for Gavin McKenna is going to sort of act as a midseason reset… first-line winger, probably playing with Berkly Cctton if Seattle lets him go and Porter Martone of Michigan State. We’re all wondering what happens with Gavin McKenna at this tournament.

You can watch the full segment and the rest of the episode here…